New guy needs your advice

[sweetwaterg]

I am about to purchase a UTV and am leaning toward the Prowler so my wife can accompany me more. We currently ride Yamaha Big Bears, but my wife at age 72 does not have the skill or strength to ride the difficult rocky mountain trails here in Wyoming. Our riding is primarily on these mountain trails--lots of rocks--big ones and easy to tip over an ATV if not careful. I would also use it for elk hunting in our nearby mountains.
I believe the Prowler would be a good choice because of the ground clearance is the highest among the UTV's. My questions are: Are they tough and reliable enough for rough, rocky terrain? I am a cautious rider, not abusive,but will work my ATV's hard. Iam looking at one with a full steel cab. Will engine heat keep it warm in the winter? Will windows fog easily? Prowlers are the largest of the UTV's. Is that a negative on tight and rocky four wheel drive roads?
Thanks in advance for any advice and help you might give.

[Mustanggeek]

Welcome to the site sweetwaterg! I actually like the bigger stance of the Prowler over the other UTV's. When I purchased my machine, I like how I sat in it compared to the Ranger and Rhino. I ride rocky difficult trails all of the time with no problems. But with anything you need to be careful. I am not sure about the engine heat will keep you warm enough in the winter; we don't have that problem in the desert. But I would imagine with a full cab enclosure it shouldn't be too bad. There are some others here on the with cab enclosures that probably can answer that question better.

[cat n hat]

Welcome Sweetwaterg. The engine heat will keep you worm. I too like the wider stance af the prowlers. I ride only rocky trails and have not had to many problems. All the UTVs have there problems (they are off road machines). Good luck with your new machine

[Desertcat]

Welcome to the site. I have a 2006 650 and love it. She has a nice wide stance from the factory, I also added 1.5" wheel spacers with make a big difference. I ride with Mustanggeek and we put these machines to the test. Sandy washes, rock climbing, fast full throttle running in the open desert.

It's like buying a car you need to go sit in each one you may want to buy and make usre you like the stock set up. There are a lot of aftermarket stuff of all of these UTV's. I would like to point out that AC is Made in the USA and has won the Baja 1000 thanks to Bi Polar Racing.

Depending on the type of ridding you do there members in here that can guide you to what extra things you may need. Is forum is filled with wonderful people and they are always willing to help out. Please ask as many questions and you need so you can make a good decision

[sweetwaterg]

Thanks to all of you for the excellent information. It has always been my first choice to go to forums like this to get the benefit of others experiences. I can always count on getting good information from folks like yourselves.

[sandchris]

Welcome sweetwaterg, still pretty happy with my prowler after all this time. Make sure you consider having the tie rods beefed up with the factory upgrade or some after market ones for rocky mountain riding. Let us know how you make out.

[PeterL]

Prowlers will go anywhere and more than an atv. The only drawback is narrow trails. My wife goes with me all the time now as sitting on the back of the ATV was getting tough. We live in Northern Ontario Canada and whether it's deep water or rocky terrain the prowler so far does the job. I have the 650 XT 2009 model

[sweetwaterg]

Thank you, Peter, for your comments. I did go ahead and buy a 650X1 Prowler. It is a 2007 with a full steel cab. It is a new unit I purchased at a very substantial discount. However, I see the steel cab as a negative for recreational riding. It is extremely noisy inside the cab. For a farm/ranch vehicle the cab makes sense. I think I will try to sell the cab separately.

[cat n hat]

Well try and sell it here first. That would be nice to have in our winter weather.